Carrier cartons



July 7, 1959 P. A. TOENSMEIER CARRIER, CARTONS Filed June 19, 1957 4 m R. vw om ME T; N 36$ w wl l m Y W m United States. Patent New Haven Board & Carton Company, New Haven, Coma, a corporation of Connecticut Application June 19, 1957, Serial No. 666,618

4 Claims. (Cl. 220-115) i This invention relates to cartons for carrying a plurality of like articles, such as bottles, in separate compartments or cells in a row and is concerned more particularly with a novel carrier carton having numerous advantages over prior similar cartons. Although the new carrier requires a relatively small amount of paperboard, it is so constructed as to protect the articles being carried against damage from contact with adjacent articles throughout substantially the full depth of the cells. The partitions affording such protection are cut from the side and adjacent end walls and the partitions are so formed that they provide display, openings atdiagonally opposite edges of the carrier, through which theend articles in the carrier are visible. The partitions arecut from opposite ends of the side walls in such manner that large areas of the walls remain available for printed matter and the partitions form internal braces, which transmit and distribute the load, so that the carrier is useful even though its walls may have sufiered considerable. damage.

For a better understanding of the invention, reference may be made to the accompanying drawing, in

which t Fig. l is a plan view of a blank for one form of the new carrier;

Fig. 2 is a horizontal sectional view of a carrier made from the blank of Fig. l; i d

Fig. 3 is a view in perspective with parts broken away of a carrier made from the blank ofFig l; and g i Fig. 4 is a fragmentary'front elevational view' of' a modified construction.

The blank shown inFig." lis fora carton for carrying three bottles and it comprises a pair of like side walls 11, .12, whichare separated'by and connected along fold lines to opposite edges of an endv'vall13. A like end wall 14 is connected to the free edge of side wall 12 along a fold line and a glue flap 15 is similarly connected to the free edge of side wall 11. At their lower ends, the side walls 11, 12 are connected along fold lines to respective bottom closure flaps 16, 17 and other closure flaps 18, 19 are connected along fold lines to the lower edges of end walls 13, 14, respectively. At their upper ends, side walls 11, 12 may, if desired, be provided with reinforcing flaps 20, 21 connected to the walls along fold lines. The walls 11, 12 may also be provided withfinger openings 22, 23, which have upper edges lying spaced from the fold lines between the walls and their reinforcing flaps a distance greater than the width of the flaps.

A partition 24 is cut from the side wall 11 and the adjacent end wall 13 and the partition is made up of a root section 24a connected to the side wall along a vertical fold line 25 serving as a hinge connection and an end section 24b connected to the free end of the root section along a fold line 26, which is in two parts lying in alignment with the fold line between side wall 11 and end wall 13. Between the two parts of fold line 26, the root and end sections of the partition are separated 2,893,593 Patented July 7, 1959 2 by a U-shaped cut 27, so that the end section 24b has a tongue 24c entering a recess in the free end edge of root section 24a. I I

A partition 28, which is the same as partition 24 in shape and size, is cut from the side wall 12 and end wall 14 and partition 28 has a root section 28a hingedto wall 12 along a vertical fold line 29 and an end section 28b with a tongue 28c separated from section 2811 by a cut 30. ;T he vertical hinge lines 25, 29 of the partitions 24, 28 lie spaced one-third the width of the side walls 11, 12 from the fold lines between the side walls and the end walls adjacent the hinge lines, that. is, end walls 13, 14,- respectively.

In forming the carrier from the blank 10, glue is applied to the surfaces of the'partition end sections 24b, 28b, the-glue flap. 15, and the reinforcing flaps 20, 21 and the reinforcing flaps are then folded inwardly against the surfaces of side walls 11, 12 to adhere thereto. Thereafter, the blank is folded upon itself on the fold line between end wall 13 and side wall 12 and this operation places side wall 12' and end wall 14 upon side wall 11 and end wall 13. The glued surfaces of partition end section 2412 and tongue 24c adhere to the opposed surface of-side wall 12 and the glued surfaces of partition end section 28b and tongue 28c similarly adhere to the opposed surface of sidewall 11. The glue flap 15 is next folded in over end Wall 14 and afiixed thereto. The blank is thus formed into a collapsed tube and, when pressure is applied to the lateral edges of the tube, the end walls 13, 14 move to positions at right angles to the side walls, the rootsections of the partitions move into parallel relation to the end walls, and the removal of the partitions from the end and side walls, frornwhich they were out, form display openings at diagonally opposite edges of the carrier. The bottom may. then be closed byfolding the bottom flaps 16-19, inclusive, inward upon one another andgluing them together in the usual way.

It will be observed that, in the blank 10, the lower edges ofthe finger openings 22, 23 lie a short distance between the openings 22, '23 and the edges of the openings in the side walls 11, 12, formed by cutting the partitions 24, 28 therefror'n, the finger openings are de 'fined'at'one cornerby' diagonal lines 22a, 23a, respectively, and the adjacent corners of the partitions are cut off diagonally.

In the use of the new carrier, it is erected as described and may then be loaded and employed in the transportation of bottles, etc., to the retailer. In shipment, the bottles in a carrier are given approximately full depth protection by the partitions against damage resulting from contact with bottles in adjacent cells and, with the display openings lying at diagonally opposite sides of the carrier, bottles in adjacent carriers in a shipping case are kept from contact by solid portions of the carrier side and end walls. The formation of the partitions and display openings as described provides an uninterrupted area of each side wall, which is well adapted for carrying printed matter and the loaded carriers are thus suitable for setting up in store displays. The glued connection of the end section of each partition to the side wall opposite to that, from which the partition is cut, causes the partition to act as a brace and the erected carrier is a rigid and stable structure, in which there is a balanced transmission of load to the two handle sections directly above the hand hold openings. Tests have shown that, because of the reversely symmetrical construction of the carrier, the load distribution through the partitions is such that, even if both strips 31, 32 are broken, the carrier with a full load can be carried by the use of the finger openings without distortion sufiicient to result in further damage or in the loss of a bottle.

In the construction shown in Figs. 1-3, inclusive, each partition has a root section connected by a continuous vertical hinge to one of the side walls and, as a result, the erected carrier has an unobstructed opening in each side wall. In some instances, it may be desired to aflord increased protection to the bottles in the end cells of the carrier against damage by contact through the openings with extraneous objects and this can be done by connecting the root section of each partition to its side wall by spaced fold lines, such as lines 33a, 33b in the side wall 11, and joining the adjacent ends of the fold lines by a U-shaped cut 34. In the erected carrier, the cut defines a tongue 35, which lies in the plane of the side wall. By forming the tongue so that its length is equal to at least half the diameter of the bottle and forming the end section of the associated partition so that its width is less than half the diameter of the bottle, the bottle will be protected at the front by the tongue and, at the end of the carrier, by the end wall.

The blank shown in Fig. 1 is for use in producing a carrier for three like bottles and each side wall has a width equal to three times the diameter of a bottle. Each partition is hinged to its side wall one-third the distance across the wall from the end wall adjacent the hinge connection. In making a carton for holding two bottles, the side walls are preferably made of a width less than three times the diameter of a bottle but greater than twice the diameter. In that event, each partition is hinged to its side wall a distance equal to a bottle diameter across the wall from the end wall adjacent the hinge connection and, in the erected carton, the partitions lie parallel and spaced the distance by which the width of a side wall exceeds twice the diameter of a bottle. The spacing of the partitions provides air space between the bottles in the carton, which affords increased protection to the bottles against damage, and the formation of the side walls of a size exceeding twice a bottle diameter provides additional area on each side wall for printed matter.

I claim:

1. A carton for carrying a plurality of like articles in a row, which comprises a pair of side walls, end walls connecting vertical edges of the side walls and with the side walls forming a tube, a bottom closure for the tube made up of flaps connected to the lower edges of the walls and overlying one another, and a pair of partitions having vertical hinge connections to respective side walls inward from the upper and lower edges thereof, the connections of the partitions to the side walls lying spaced a distance substantially equal to the diameter of an article from respective end walls and each partition having a length less than twice the diameter of an article and being severed in part from the side wall, to which it is connected, and in part fromthe end wall adjacent the connection of the partition to its side wall, each partition including a root section extending from its hinge connection to its side wall across the interior of the carton to the opposite side wall and an end section connected to the free end of its root section along a fold line and adhesively secured to the inner face of said opposite side wall, the side walls having finger openings in their upper central portions and positioned opposite one another, the opening formed in one of said side walls by the severance of a part of one partition therefrom lying mainly to one side of the finger opening in said side wall and the opening formed in the opposite side wall by the severance of a part of the other partition therefrom lying mainly to the opposite side of the finger opening in said opposite side wall.

2. The carton of claim 1, in which the end section of each partition has a width not exceeding half the width of an end wall.

3. The carton of claim 1, in which the end section of each partition has a tongue cut from the root section of the partition and adhesively secured to the inner face of the side wall to which the end section is secured, the end section and the tongue extending to opposite sides of the root section of the partition.

4. The carton of claim 1, in which the vertical hinge connection between each partition and a side wall is formed by a pair of aligned spaced fold lines having their adjacent ends connected by a generally U-shaped cut defining a tongue freed from the root section of the partition and lying in the plane of the side wall to which the partition is hinged.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,137,732 Alfred May 4, 1915 1,911,215 Walter May 30, 1933 2,535,741 Lighter Dec. 26, 1950 2,807,404 Cote Sept. 24, 1957 FOREIGN PATENTS 436,140 Great Britain Oct. 7, 1935 560,830 Great Britain Apr. 21, 1944 an an..- 

